- Salary
- $110 – $125k
- Location
- Irvine, CA
- Workplace
- Onsite
- Type
- Full-time
- Department
- Human Resources
- Seniority
- Mid
- Education
- Bachelor
- Closing date
- Today
- Source
- ApplyToJob
Description
Location: Irvine, CA (onsite)
About Kardion
Kardion is a cardiovascular medical device company developing next-generation mechanical circulatory support technology, with dual headquarters in Irvine, California and Stuttgart, Germany. Every moment matters. Our team is building toward a future where circulatory support gives patients and clinicians more time, more options, and more certainty.
Summary
As our Talent Acquisition Specialist, you will help find, engage, and hire the team that brings our technology to patients. You will carry a full requisition load across engineering, quality, regulatory, clinical, supply chain, IT, finance, and G&A roles, with a focus on individual contributor and mid-level positions, as US headcount grows several times over by commercialization.
Essential Responsibilities
- Manage full-cycle recruiting for assigned requisitions: sourcing, screening, scheduling, interviews, debriefs, references, and offer support.
- Join intake meetings with hiring managers and the Talent Acquisition Partner to define the success profile, must-have skills, interview panel, scorecard, and target start date for each role.
- Help hiring managers write clear, compelling job descriptions and postings.
- Source hard-to-find medical device talent (catheter and delivery systems, mechanical circulatory support, design and manufacturing quality, regulatory, and clinical) through LinkedIn Recruiter, referrals, job boards, industry associations, and direct outreach.
- Prescreen candidates, conduct phone and video interviews, and present qualified shortlists with clear assessments.
- Analyze recruiting data such as time-to-fill, source of hire, and pipeline conversion, and recommend improvements to process and sourcing strategy.
- Run candidate and hiring manager experience surveys, and share trends and areas for improvement.
- Develop recruitment materials, including job postings, outreach templates, and employer branding content.
- Make sure candidates clearly understand open roles, the application process, and next steps at each stage.
- Facilitate structured interviews and post-interview calibration so every role follows the same intake, scorecard, and debrief steps.
- Coordinate interviews across US and German teams and time zones, including onsite visits and finalist presentations.
- Partner with HR Leadership to prepare and extend offers, coordinate reference and background checks, and hand off smoothly to onboarding.
- Keep ATS records accurate, complete, and audit-ready, and pull data for time-to-fill, pipeline health, source of hire, and offer acceptance.
- Support agency searches when approved, including tracking submittals and agency spend.
- Deliver a professional, inclusive candidate experience that shows candidates the mission and pace of an early-stage medical device company.
- Keep hiring compliant with US and California laws.
- Other duties and projects as assigned.
- Assigned requisitions filled on the timelines that support our milestones.
- Strong, diverse pipelines in place for recurring roles, with more hires coming from direct sourcing and referrals than from agencies.
- Every role run through the standard process: intake, structured interviews, scorecards, and debriefs.
- Clean ATS data that feeds the monthly recruiting dashboard to leadership.
- Consistently positive feedback from hiring managers and candidates.
- Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, Communications, Psychology, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
- 3–5 years of full-cycle recruiting experience, with at least 1–2 years in medical device, life sciences, or another regulated industry; cardiovascular or Class III device experience a plus.
- Experience recruiting for technical and regulated roles such as R&D engineering, quality, regulatory, and clinical.
- Proven ability to build qualified pipelines through both traditional and creative sourcing methods.
- Comfortable managing a large requisition load in a fast-paced startup or high-growth environment.
- Medical device network in Southern California preferred.
- Skilled with ATS platforms (JazzHR or similar), LinkedIn Recruiter, and MS Office (Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams); comfortable using data to track progress.
- Experience working with contingency and retained agencies preferred.
- Strong interviewing, assessment, organization, and follow-through skills.
- Sound judgment and discretion with confidential information.
- Working knowledge of California employment law as it applies to hiring.
- Office: Irvine, CA, onsite
- Travel: minimal; occasional industry events and university outreach.
Additional Information
Physical abilities: While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, stand, walk, talk, and hear for up to 8 hours per day. The employee regularly lifts and carries up to 10 pounds and occasionally up to 20 pounds. Duties involve daily keyboard and computer use and require close vision. These demands are representative of those needed to perform the essential functions of the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Language abilities: Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English, with the ability to communicate clearly and professionally with colleagues in the US and Germany.
Compensation and benefits: The base salary range for this role is $110-125,000. Final pay depends on job-related skills, experience, and location. This role may be eligible for equity and an annual incentive bonus, plus Kardion's benefits package.
Equal opportunity: Kardion is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Kardion will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records in accordance with the California Fair Chance Act.